


a shot of jack

by Shampain



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1954107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shampain/pseuds/Shampain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At 'The Shield', a bar just off campus, Clint deals with his best friend's difficulties. A very very short drabble based on a giftset I made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a shot of jack

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based vaguely off of this gifset I made: http://vodkertonic.tumblr.com/post/91490314794/he-introduced-himself-bucky-im-natashas  
> I dunno, I'm kind of tipsy and felt like writing something up! And I like AUs. Sheesh.

Clint felt silent.

Not that he wasn't speaking; he was. Yet he felt as if that part of his mind had shut down, had battened down the hatches in preparation of the storm that he knew was coming. He picked up his beer, already warm from the heat of the bar, all of the bodies pushing in against each other. He could not separate himself; he was trapped.

Natasha sat next to him. He knew that she was uncomfortable; though she called for drinks, for shots, for party games, there was a slight sheen to her skin. Her tattoos, sparse but insistent, winked at him from the edges of her clothing. She was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met and yet he viewed it as a strange mutation, as a part of her that he got over in time, as if her nose was too big, her eyes too far apart. He didn't even notice it.

But, oh, the rest of the bar patrons did. No wonder Bucky seemed to emanate a sort of hostile air, even while he sat and smiled and talked to Jane. Jane was very pretty; symmetrical face, long unremarkable hair, a wit and intelligence sharp enough to cut. Bucky leaned in towards her, smiling. There were forces at play, Clint realized. He'd never gone to school, let alone university, but he could see it.

Natasha bumped her elbow against his and gave him a beseeching look. “Let's get some Jack,” he announced, taking her hand. It was very small inside of his.

She was just a young girl but he knew, oh he knew. Natasha had big things coming. In the end he would be a blip, an anecdote on her way to glory. That was what he knew; whether or not it was something she believed, though, was entirely up to her.

“Do you think he really likes her?” Natasha asked, as soon as they were at the bar counter, watching the bartender easily twitch her hand, flip a bottle of Jack Daniels around until the spout faced downwards. “If he doesn't... that's not very nice.”

“If that's the Jane from the Faculty of Science I'm thinking about,” Clint replied, “Then Bucky's got competition.”

“Who?”

“Thor.”

“Loki's brother?” Natasha laughed, harshly. The laugh said it all. “I thought he was dating that girl, Sif?”

“You never know.”

“Get me drunk, Clint,” Natasha said, rounding on him suddenly. Her eyes, big and wide, like a doe's, were beseeching. Suddenly, he didn't know where to turn. He was caught in the headlights. She was his best friend. She was there for him even when his whole family had picked up and moved on.

“Drunk?” he repeated, to buy time.

“Drunk,” she echoed, looking at the shot glasses set before them, overflowing with a dark, viscous liquid, like blood. “Can you do that?”

Clint felt in his pocket, which held his wallet. “I'll be honest, Nat,” he said. “That's about the only thing I can do for you tonight.” He raised his hand, motioning for a second round. Natasha smiled at him, like a shark, but he couldn't tell – was she endangered, or watching a seal?

“Thanks,” she said.

Jane laughed, in the background. Clint felt the time jerk forward, rustily, like an old watch. His night had begun.


End file.
